TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 29
Today we ring in a new semester with something different—music. At the heart of Beatrice Institute is a community of Christian Studies Fellows. These undergraduates meet regularly for seminars on foundational topics of Christian doctrine led by faculty experts. This year’s theme of Body and Soul, ranges from the creation of souls to the Resurrection of the Body, from Augustine’s neo-Platonism, to John Milton’s biblical imagination, to Eucharistic ministry among the dying in contemporary hospitals.
We are taking a break from our usual interviews this week as the hosts get a new semester up and running. In the meantime, Beatrice Institute Fellow Kirsten Barron has shared with us a song she wrote about the incarnation of wonder in the world around us.
We will resume our regular schedule of every other week in two weeks’ time. We are also moving our release day from Mondays to Wednesdays. When we return, we will be joined by our new co-host Grant Martsolf. Grant is a Beatrice Institute Faculty Fellow, director of our Personalism and Public Policy research initiative, and UPMC Health System Chair in Nursing Science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing.
Grant’s upcoming episodes include interviews with psychologist Ben Miller of the Wellbeing Trust, on health policy and human flourishing, social psychologist Karina Schumann on Apologies, and Jessica Hooten Wilson on Walker Percy’s social theory and philosophy of science.
Until next time, enjoy listening to Kirsten Barron’s original composition, “I Believe There Is an Artist.” Kirsten is a member of Pittsburgh’s Bruderhof community and she is joined by some of her housemates in the recording. Kirsten has made an accompanying video, which will soon be available to watch on the Beatrice Institute YouTube channel. For now, imagine you are walking the streets of the Oakland neighborhood on a typical dreary fall day in Pittsburgh and seeing through Kirsten’s eyes.
Artist at Work
By Kirsten Barron
Silver sunlight filters through the clouds,
Sunbeam ladders touch the ground
As the wind combs the tails of the billows.
Ruffled ranks of dappled white and grey
Turn to roses when the day
Paints farewell in the evening glow.
I believe there is an Artist
Working all around us, cosmically.
We are living in His work for,
All the universe is
His gallery.
The colors that I see across this town
Are twenty shades of grey and brown.
But I walk down the sidewalks and see
That stoplights glow in red and green and gold,
Street-side murals bloom with hope
And the ivy is always green.
I believe there is an Artist
Working all around us, cosmically.
We are living in His work for,
All the universe is
His gallery.
Nights in town are never very dark
But we’ve got other closer stars
When the streetlamps go on in the evening
A jewel case has spilled across the night
With a million glowing lights
It’s our neighborhood galaxy.
I believe there is an Artist
Working all around us, cosmically.
We are living in His work for,
All the universe is
His gallery!